Rising from the Darkness: Transforming Intractable Conflicts through Stakeholder Engagement
ISSN-Digital
2151-6561
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Abstract
Stakeholder engagement scholars are paying increasing attention to the dark side of stakeholder engagement, where stakeholders tend to destroy rather than create value due to their negative engagement. Thereby, they quickly get trapped in intractable conflicts with stakeholder relationships based on the relational state of (dysfunctional) distrust. The transformation of these value-destroying conflicts is critical for stakeholders to return to value creation—the key purpose of stakeholder engagement. However, how intractable conflicts are transformed has received little attention in the stakeholder engagement literature. Drawing from intractable conflicts and organizational behavior research, I build a theoretical process model that describes the transformation of intractable conflicts along Lewin’s change model by allocating different relational states and engagement practices in his three steps. I extend stakeholder engagement theory by adding knowledge about (1) the relational state of distrust, in which constructive engagement is impaired, and suspicion, which is needed for facilitated engagement to transform stakeholder relationships into a desired direction; (2) the relational state of calculative trust that describes functional stakeholder relationships as a potentially desired relational state and precondition for building more communal relationships; (3) novel stakeholder engagement practices suitable for the three steps involved in the transformation process of intractable conflicts.
Funding(s)
Language
English (United States)
Keywords
dark side
distrust
intractable conflict
stakeholder dialogue
stakeholder engagement
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Event Title
Proceedings of the Eighty-third Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management
Event Location
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Event Date
04.-08.08.2023
Subject(s)
Additional Information
Please cite this paper: Gaito, T. (2023). Rising from the Darkness: Transforming Intractable Conflicts through Stakeholder Engagement. In Sonia Taneja (Ed.), Proceedings of the Eighty-third Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. Online ISSN: 2151-6561.